Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Well I'm back and as I promised this time I will be discussing the top 10 Disney animated guys that I find to be the most attractive. Now of course there are a quite a lot of Disney men to choose from and believe me I had a hard time just trying to choose ten of them! As with my other list of animated men not from Disney flicks the qualities of personality, attractiveness and even the voice acting of the actors portraying these Disney hunks had a lot to do with whom I chose. Also again everyone has their own opinions so don't be cruel or harsh on my choices or reasons for why I find them to be attractive...just enjoy these guys if any of them strike your fancy, ladies ;) !! Gentlemen, if any are reading this, you may need to take some notes and if not I give you permission for a few stifled laughs...

#10. Prince Naveen of Maldonia from The Princess And The Frog voiced by actor Bruno Campos

So of course Naveen starts off a little on the conceited side to most people being a womanizing, playboy prince who is lazy and irresponsible but who can blame someone that has been pampered all their life? Well it's proven that Naveen isn't entirely just a pretty face he is well educated and can play a mean ukulele he just isn't very skilled at anything else like making food or even genuinely courting a girl he has feelings for. His relationship with Tiana starts of rocky but in the end he is loyal to her and puts her own needs before his own which in real life is how some men become once they fall in love and become husbands or even fathers.

Most of my reason why I like Naveen comes from his voice actor, Bruno Campos. I first saw him in what has probably become my favorite episode of Cold Case in Season 5 called "Lonely Hearts" (mostly because Heart's "Alone" plays at the end but I digress...) He played a con man who romanced women and then stole from them but eventually fell in love with one of his marks and became devastated when she was murdered.

Anyway, his looks are very nice and his voice is charming whether it handles an American accent or even the one he uses for Naveen which is French and his natural Portuguese accent mixed together (he was born in Brazil where Portuguese is the official language for any of you unaware...) Today he does occasional acting but is mostly working as a litigation associate for a law firm so if you need a handsome lawyer to represent you odds are this hunky actor might be it!

#9. Hercules from the 1997 film voiced by actor Tate Donovan

Who wouldn't want a guy like Hercules as a boyfriend? Sure he's the son of the gods Zeus and Hera (only in Disney Canon...the Greek mythology is loads more complicated!) gifted with super strength and could actually be considered a prince but being raised as a mortal gives him a more down to Earth personality. We all probably know or remember being awkward and clumsy when we were younger or being very gangly and out of place and that's exactly how a younger Hercules felt. Despite that he grows up and besides developing a nice body and a slightly less sense of awkwardness when it comes to his strength causing damage but not in his normal earnest personality or wooing women. Not a playboy like Naveen, Hercules still falls in love with Meg(ara) from the moment he sees her and she eventually comes to love him after seeing his compassion and who wouldn't want a man to risk their very lives if it meant saving yours and almost dying in the process!?

I don't think they could have picked a better actor than Tate Donovan to voice Hercules. He conveys through his voice the character's awkward, shy yet compassionate nature towards others but also the anger needed to make Hercules a true hero in fighting Hades without making him seem the over muscled brute of ancient mythology or even gritty reboots. My first so biased favorite film of Donovan's has to be Love Potion #9 where he played almost the exact same character and goes to show nice guys can get the girl and in real life if you used to date Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston then you must be doing something right!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame made into a film you are going to show your children has to have a lot toned down and even though it is still one of the more adult and darker toned DISNEY films I'm so glad they made Phoebus less of a jerk! In the novel, Phoebus is an arrogant, vain and prideful man who only uses Esmeralda for sex, has a fiancée he cheats on and then causes the death of others with no remorse! In this interpretation, Phoebus is a soldier and Captain of The Guard who is for justice as long as innocent people are not hurt or killed, has a sarcastic yet funny wit and a heart of gold that befits his sun god name.

I am not ashamed to admit that I have a crush on Kevin Kline and while you may think it's just because I have an affinitive for older men you couldn't be more wrong it is his extreme talent that impresses me. He has won Tony awards, is a marvelous Shakespearean actor which makes him great at drama, has a comedic wit that won him an Academy Award and never fails to make me laugh as well as being a humanitarian volunteer in the research of juvenile diabetes because his son was diagnosed with it. Also he has been married to actress Phoebe Cates since 1989 (that's almost 30 years!) so all the boys who wanted her thanks to Fast Times At Ridgemont High lucked out when she married the charismatic Kline, a man sixteen years her senior! So I guess there is a point in liking older men especially if it's someone like Kevin Kline who can make you laugh and then recite you a sonnet of The Bard enough to move you to tears and sweep you off your feet at the same time!

#7. Tarzan from the 1999 film voiced by actor Tony Goldwyn

I would imagine in real life if you met a man who had been raised by gorillas his whole life, never wore clothes bigger than a hand towel and had dreadlocks nowhere as nice as Bob Marley's because it wasn't part of your faith but because you never got to experience a nice shampoo massage on your scalp you might not be so inclined to date him. Tarzan has always been romanticized with his muscled arms, trim abs and loincloth to reveal a lot more skin so it's kind of nice to see a gentle personality bring more to the table than beefcake. Found after his parents are killed by a leopard and raised as the son of a female gorilla, Tarzan looks nothing like his adoptive family so he is also shunned from being a son to Kerchak, the leader of gorillas and mate to Kala.

When Jane Porter and her father arrive from England to study gorillas, she meets Tarzan and the two become fascinated with each other and end up falling in love. Since he is a man and not an ape, Tarzan soon starts to speak rather eloquent English, walking more upright and is seen to be rather intelligent in imitating motions from moving pictures and gunshots, building umbrellas from tree leaves and even looks good in a suit! Intimidating when called for with his intense eyes and famous yell, Tarzan can also be very gentle with those same eyes, almost puppy-dog like, and those same hands that can kill a leopard end up examining Jane's face with such tenderness.

Now when I learned Tony Goldwyn was the voice behind Tarzan at first I was skeptical that the same guy who played evil Carl Bruner that ended up being the guy to kill Patrick Swayze's Sam Wheat by hiring his murderer in Ghost was the same man playing the non-evil and kind-hearted Tarzan. I guess that's the power of Goldwyn's acting going from being such a jerk to such a great Disney character and now he plays a president with a mistress on Scandal. Not only is Tony Goldwyn a brilliant actor but he is also a film director, television director and son of the late movie producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. which makes him the grandson of one of the movie industry's pioneers. He may have been born to privilege but Tony's talent and good looks are his own and boy does he own them!

#6. Kristoff from Frozen voiced by Broadway actor Jonathan Groff

Yes like many, many...many people I love Frozen! The plot lines pay homage and differentiate from the Disney norms with less romantic love and more familial love between sisters but still produces beautiful animation and ear-worm songs that enchant and annoy. The characters are some of the most popular, complex and almost human characters for people to relate to, sympathize with, laugh with and maybe for you Disney haters to I guess criticize and even loathe. Kristoff is one of those Disney men that is far more realistic to those usual slender built or athletically gifted princes and heroes but gets his brawn from hauling and harvesting ice which is hard work that most of the others have never had to do in their lives.

He's also realistic in how romance is supposed to work and in how most men act because in reality you aren't going to be meeting a prince to wed along every street corner especially if you are an American like me who lives in the small town (I've got my man who is more like Kristoff in that fact and I'm okay with that.) Some of us are also like Kristoff in the fact that we don't really like to keep company with people as most are unkind but we do get along well with those closest to us that we have genuine love and affection toward (like our pets even!) So personality wise Kristoff is relatable but he is also realistically attractive with his warm brown eyes, broad shoulders and a blond hairstyle that without his hat is sported by more men or at least the ones I know than the perfectly coifed hair of many a Disney man.

I have to admit that Jonathan Groff is quite a cutie and man can he sing! As much as I detest Glee (people who like the show don't hurt me!) I have heard his Broadway vocals from Spring Awakening on YouTube and he has a very nice singing voice. He has also been in the soap opera One Life To Live ( one I don't watch but unless its General Hospital I don't really watch them...) so the television roles aren't as fruitful as the theater ones or as famous as Kristoff but you know he's young to have a successful career for many, many more years. I also am proud that he is an open gay man in the industry and he seems to be a great role model for any other younger men who may still feel ashamed about their sexuality and afraid to come out (but yet again I state why do all the cute ones have to be gay?) Another good one of the market for us ladies *sigh* but a potential love match for some lucky gentleman out there ;)...

#5. Aladdin from the 1992 film voiced by actor Scott Weinger

When Aladdin came out in 1992, it was the Disney film of the moment and was the big thing until The Lion King came out but even then it still had relevance as it spawned two sequels and even a television show that I admit I watched every day it was on. I think it's mostly because Aladdin is such a great character that you could flesh out his backstory to reveal a very personable young man that other guys can relate to and that women can crush on with ease. Not having a father or a mother to raise him, young Aladdin pretty much has to take care of himself from a young age which eventually leads to stealing. So when he's a young man in his late teens, even though he goes through mayhem just to get a loaf of bread in the end he'll give it to starving children that remind him of his own struggles and he also won't be afraid to stand up to anyone willing to hurt or degrade others even if he himself is still slightly insecure.

He was originally supposed to be designed with a build like Michael J. Fox but then became more athletic like Tom Cruise but still with those few "Marty McFly" traits. The television show brought more of his backstory into light and in the show, we see he still lives in his hovel instead of the comfort of the palace which rightfully being engaged to Princess Jasmine he could do but doesn't and at times still gets treated like the same old street rat. Despite that, he still has the Sultan's respect and remains true to Jasmine no matter what or who may throw themselves at him (villains and other women included!) By the time the third movie , Aladdin And The King Of Thieves, wraps up the franchise Aladdin is older, wiser and definitely ready to be a leader of Agrabah when his time comes.

As a tween girl in the 90s I know there are many girls out there who crushed hard on Scott Weinger when he played D.J. Tanner's boyfriend Steve Hale on Full House (I was one of them!) and most of them probably didn't realize he had voiced Aladdin until years after the film. I always liked Scott as Steve because he put up with some of the quirkiness and weirdness the Tanner family experienced, didn't mind having Kimmy Gibbler as a third wheel and he really loved D.J. enough to come back and be her senior prom date in the show's last episode despite being broken up for quite sometime (why can't all people and their ex-significant others be as civil in real life?). Still very attractive, Scott is now mostly a writer and producer for Hollywood but he still has time to lend his voice to Aladdin in Kingdom Hearts and still be a first crush for many of us girls of the early 90s.

Yes I can imagine a lot of booing, hissing and confusion being muttered out there for my fourth choice. I never said it had to be just one guy per film and I never said that villains did not count so let's clear that up. Next to those who ask why I rate Hans higher than Kristoff yes in the plainest of terms it is because I find him more attractive and more my type when it comes to real life men and also sometimes there are villains out there you can't help but crush on in films or on television and mine just happens to be Hans. I think Prince Hans is one of the more terrifying villains in the Disney canon because he's not just right in your face evil...he's hidden behind a handsome, innocent face with a sociopathic mind and that's way more frightening than any witch, sorcerer, dragon or monster.

Some girls may even be with a guy like Hans at this very moment or use to be with him or maybe you all know someone like him and that necessarily doesn't mean they are sociopaths on purpose after all no one takes into consideration that maybe Hans wasn't lying about being bullied by his older brothers and receiving no affection from them or his parents. As it's stated on ABC's Once Upon A Time (where coincidentally Frozen just got done being the main arc of the first half of its fourth season and is one of my favorite shows!) it is always stated that evil isn't born it is made and even in real life that is true or so I hope...

I will admit to you that I know not a lot about Santino Fontana except that he is a Broadway actor with a lovely speaking and singing voice and that he is the same age as my fiancé. The credit on Broadway he is most known for is playing Prince Topher (short for Christopher) in the 2013 version of Cinderella written by Rodgers & Hammerstein which is one of my favorite musicals and one of my favorite fairy tales. So I guess if you would like to hear Santino Fontana (does he not have a fantastic name?) as an actual good and charming prince you can find the soundtrack album and scenes from the show online of course on YouTube.

Now I can't really remember if I saw The Little Mermaid in the theater but I do know that for my seventh birthday I got a Little Mermaid birthday cake and the movie itself for a birthday present. Yep it was actually the first Disney film I really became infatuated with having dolls, coloring books, t-shirts and jewelry driving that merchandise until The Lion King came out. So of course you know that means that Prince Eric was probably like a dream come true to every girl my age as for most of us he was the first Disney Prince exposed to my generation and how could you not like him? He had perfect black hair, a great smile and cute laugh, lovely blue eyes, loved dogs and could play the flute beautifully.

Even though he was a little distracted in finding his dream girl he treated Ariel (same said dream girl but unknown to him at the time) with respect and showed her about his kingdom when she was without a voice as if she were completely normal without any awkwardness. He was heroic, adventurous and determined but he could also be a daydreamer and a little sullen but that's okay every once in a while and who wouldn't want to live in a beautiful castle by the sea? It was also kind of nice to see Ariel save Eric to show that even though later in the film when she has to be rescued by Eric that she can be just as selfless and heroic depending on the situation and of course we get to see Eric slightly helpless...not just because he's unconscious but something about caring for your man when they are weak as a newborn kitten is endearing.

Christopher Daniel Barnes ( I just love saying his whole name!) was only 16 when he voiced Eric and he had done some television roles before then but you can imagine how his career must have boomed after The Little Mermaid. Nowadays we also think of him as Greg Brady and the voice of Spiderman but he also is the voice for Cinderella's Prince Charming in both of the film's sequels...who else can say they were two princes, a superhero and a groovy, charming big man on campus? Another thing I remember is his face being in teen magazines all about the grocery store and even hanging on the walls of the older girls in my neighborhood when they had to baby-sit me or I had play dates with their little sisters. Although he does the occasional live action role he is mostly a voice over artist for cartoons and video games mostly for of course Spiderman or Kingdom Hearts. Whether he goes by his full name or his initials or even just Chris, he will also be the voice behind Disney's first and only Prince of the 1980s and the first in their Renaissance. Actually Prince Eric was the first Disney prince in almost thirty years after my second choice...

Now Eric may have been the first Disney Prince of my generation but he was not the first Disney Prince I was exposed to...Prince Phillip was. Released on VHS in 1986, it was one of the first Disney films my mother bought me and I have loved the story of Sleeping Beauty ever since and it also technically makes Phillip my first ever crush on an animated male character and probably the archetype of what I find attractive in men (well one of them...) He had that perfect brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, a charming smile, a very lovely singing voice, a playful nature when dealing with his trusted steed Samson and also a very nice dancer. He also seemed to have a very good relationship with his father Hubert despite being more of a forward thinker but despite that he was clearly a dreamer. When he first hears Aurora singing in the forest, he imagines maybe the voice belongs to a wood sprite until he spies her dancing in the forest alongside her animal friends in their make-shift "prince" outfit consisting of his hat, cloak and boots.

Any normal man would think this girl was crazy but Phillip is charmed by her, takes away his "competition" and dances with her in the woods. He startles Aurora but still remains kind and gentle and by the end of their waltz, they are both in love and since he does not know her name or that she is his betrothed princess but just a mere peasant girl, he tells his father he will marry the girl he loves. Phillip was willing to abdicate his future as king of his country to marry a girl below his station after just one afternoon? To a normal person that does sound silly but to a romantic like me (probably the movie that made me so) that is such a sacrifice.

When he gets captured by Maleficent and learns through her taunting of him that his princess is under a spell and needs his kiss to awaken, he is clearly mad and determined to save Aurora and even though the three fairies help him escape the chains and most of the obstacles with magic, its Phillip's heart that drives him own and even though he gets a good "oh crap!" look on his face at Maleficent's dragon form he still fights her and ends up killing off one of Disney's greatest villainesses. If all of this doesn't make Phillip a worthy choice for my top three I don't know what else I could say?

There are not many pictures of Bill Shirley out there and just a small bit of information I could find on him. He began his acting career young and with mostly bit parts until 20th Century Fox hired him as a "ghost voice" for their actors who could not sing and of course, William Shirley had a beautiful, lyric tenor/baritone. He played Stephen Foster in a 1952 film and then after Sleeping Beauty famously did the singing part for Jeremy Brett as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady ("On The Street Where You Live" to be precise...). Later in life he became a Broadway theater producer and worked in real estate development before dying in 1989 at the age of 68 :(

So if Prince Philip isn't my number one which Disney man gets the mantle of Hottest Disney character in my book? Some of you may have an idea but if you don't all I can tell you is that the movie is fairly recent in the Disney canon and a film that I just could not stop watching and the hero is just one of the reasons why...

So why do I love Flynn/Eugene above all Disney men? First let's get the physical aspects out of the way: I have a thing for the tall, dark and handsome guys so of course having brown hair and brown eyes is a point in his favor and his very nice and trim goatee doesn't hurt (I like goatees on men; my fiancé sports a nice one at times). Also if you hadn't noticed he is kind of strong and athletically built as seen during the break in to the castle (some serious parkour moves like freaking Spiderman!) and climbing up Rapunzel's tower the first time (upper arm strength just using arrows driven into stone?...just wow!) Flynn is also more down to Earth than Rapunzel and a little more serious until some of her quirky charm rubs off on him but you learn that young Eugene had a rough life growing up. He was an orphan (Fitzherbert seriously means bastard son of Herbert...poor kid) who wanted be like the hero in the stories he read to the younger children (hence the name change) but realized that you may need money so he turned to being a thief and kind of ending up in trouble by running with the wrong kind of crowd.

So being kind of driven by envy and greed would make him almost un-heroic but Flynn also has charm and a sense of humor that can work in his favor or just get him in even more trouble but saves him from being a complete jerk. Eventually he grows thanks to Rapunzel's love by going by his given name, smiling more than smirking and also putting someone else before himself. The moment I think that made me completely become a Eugene gal was during the song "I See The Light" and not just because the voice singing sounded like it came from angels! Earlier in the film during the "I've Got A Dream" song Flynn said he didn't sing but then was kind of forced to and it was just going through the motions and singing about his own selfish dreams. During this moment not only is it a love epiphany for both he and Rapunzel but it's when you see how he has grown and changed as the song comes from his heart and well you can guess what that new dream is...

To tell you the truth all I knew about Zachary Levi before Tangled was that he was a very attractive guy playing a character named Chuck. I had no idea he had such a lovely voice so after hearing him sing in Tangled I was very impressed! I admit I didn't really get into Chuck just because of Tangled but I do follow Zachary Levi on Twitter and appreciate his humor and the passion of his causes he tweets about from time to time. I know a lot of people out there believe most people follow celebrities on Twitter to be total stalkers but I follow anyone who makes an impression on me and like finding out that they are as normal as you and me. They may never answer you back but I'm sure they appreciate that you enjoy what they do and believe me I pay a little bit more attention to Zachary Levi's career (if you ever get a chance to see the made for TV movie Remember Sunday that he starred in...prepare to have boxes of Kleenex or at least a bucket for your tears whether they be happy or sad!)

So there you have it my Top Ten Hottest Disney Animated Men. If I had a guy on here that you didn't agree with, I am so sorry but don't hate. As I said there are a lot of Disney guys to choose from and it was kind of hard to narrow it down to just ten based on physical traits and human attributes that I find appealing. I don't make lists to pander to anyone else's ideas and enjoy sharing my opinions and hope that you will enjoy them just as much. If you feel I left a certain character off this list feel free to let me know just please don't be hateful so I don't have to be hateful back there's too much of that going around today...

I hope you'll come back and see what I have up my sleeve next time so until then I hope you enjoy my latest post and give my older ones some love if you wish ;) but no big if you don't...

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Happy New Year blog followers! I know I have been bouncing back and forth between the music blog and this one but I've had a lot of new ideas about different topics that sometimes don't revolve around music so I have to jump back to my original blog. Being one of those people constantly checking out YouTube I have seen many lists about sexy animated men from the Disney films (you can call them princes or heroes whatever...) and then about other animated male characters so I figured hey I can do that too! Being that I am more creative with blogging than video making I decided to do my list this way and a little differently. Now looks may be everything to some people and even though these men are fictional I did not pick them solely on looks. Now before I start a couple of notes:

1) Some choices are nostalgic from childhood so of course being a child then it is more from a stance of hero worship than sexual attraction.

2) Most of my choices are anime based as I got into it as I became older and of course almost all anime men are gorgeous!

and lastly

3) I also based a lot of my choices on the actually actors who voiced the characters. Most of the actors are recognizable some are not but most of them are attractive in real life (well maybe to my standards but every one has their own opinions.) One thing is undeniable that sometimes a voice can be the sexiest thing about a person so let's just see who are the ten choices that top my list

Oh and as stated none of these choices are from any animated film in the Disney canon...there's like a whole other list for that ;)

When I was in elementary school and middle school this show would come on in the afternoons that I came home from school on PBS and it was interesting to say the least. It followed the formula of the more popular Disney version where a blonde mermaid named Marina saves Justin from drowning, gets a sea witch to turn her human yet she can't speak and try to win his heart away from another girl whom he mistakenly thinks saved his life. Of course he figures out the mermaid is the girl he really loves but Justin is too late and she becomes a fish back in water but that's okay because his wizard tutor gives him a potion to breathe underwater where Justin and Marina have many adventures together! It sounds very cheesy but yet again early Japanese animation dubbed to English speaking children doesn't help matters but I guess I always thought Justin was a hottie! Even though he's the prince and does save Marina on occasion, Justin sometimes can be the one in distress and Marina ends up being the one to save him instead.

The voice behind Justin, Canadian voice actor Thor Bishopric, is also a very impressive guy. He has been voice acting since he was ten years old, was the president of the Canadian version of the Screen actors Guild for seven straight years and has about 40 roles under his belt!

#9. Sven from Voltron: Defender Of The Universe voiced by actor Michael Bell

As stated before, I had to watch a lot of cartoons aimed at little boys in the 80s since I had a lot of male cousins so you either had to grin and bear it or actually learn to like it which is what happened with Voltron for me. The Americanized version of the Japanese Beast King GoLion (heavily edited of blood and violence for us young tykes) tells of five pilots from Earth who end up on Planet Arus and discover that a mechanical robot can be combined by five robotic lions and help defend the universe from the evil King Zarkon and his son Prince Lotor. Now you may think I only watched it because they had Princess Allura as the only female character to relate to and you may be right but I still love this show regardless.

Now there were five pilots and almost everyone fangirls over Keith and Lance that I can see on YouTube and fan fiction sites some even go for cute little Pidge or muscular Hunk but I always liked Sven the most. Tall, dark, handsome, quiet, reserved and a man who wears his heart on his sleeve which is the kind of man I go for in real life is probably why I like him. In the original series, Sven ( Shirogane) only appeared in six episodes before heroically losing his life and then apparently had a younger, look-alike brother show up. In America, Sven was just put on a bus to get some medical treatment and then came back after being a tortured POW and now being a freedom fighter alongside his lady love who just happened to be Allura's cousin. Also another reason I think I liked Sven was that accent (it's said to be Norwegian so we'll just go with that but still...) which I guess was just something his voice actor Michael Bell ad-libbed.

Michael Bell has been in the voice acting business for quite sometime as well as television acting. He has over 300 roles to his credit starting in 1957 when he was only 19 and has probably been the voice behind many people's childhood idols (check out his IMDb page it's humongous!) To be in the Hollywood industry this long and still be going is an amazing aspect and deserves respect with all the wisdom he gives to voice actors half his age who hope to have such a long career.

#8. Miroku from InuYasha voiced by actor Kirby Morrow

Thanks to Adult Swim/Toonami on Cartoon Network I discovered so much anime that it's ridiculous and one of my favorites is InuYasha about a girl named Kagome thrown back into the Warring States Era of Japan and finding the titular half human/ half dog demon pinned to a tree. Together they travel together to piece back shards of the Shikon Jewel and defeat the evil Naraku along with a young fox demon named Shippo, demon slayer Sango and her demon cat conveniently in kitten form Kilala and of course, lecherous Buddhist monk Miroku. I can understand why you may be questioning me as to how I find him attractive beyond a physical level (which is obvious that he is handsome...I mean really did you look at him?)

Well for one thing he is bad ass because he can fight like a ninja, when he actually concentrates he can help exorcise demons and evil spirits and plus a tragic backstory doesn't hurt. He helps Kagome and InuYasha in their fight against Naraku because a long time ago he cursed Miroku's grandfather with a wind tunnel in his hand. Sounds cool at first but it gets bigger with every use and soon will be so large and powerful enough to suck in the person attached to it! It claimed not only the life of his grandfather but Miroku actually witnessed the death of his own father when he was a little boy! Now Miroku is cursed with the same infliction so his wish is to have a child hopefully a son to avenge him if he should die before killing Naraku which would remove the curse from further generations of his bloodline.

Okay even though it may seem I am condoning his womanizing, it's also apparent that Miroku puts on this act of being such a dirty minded young man but you are faced with death probably before you even reach your twenties thanks to something you can't control...would you want to show that all the time that you are scared to death of dying? Being cursed makes Miroku a little more mature than the hot-headed InuYasha which ends up making him a loyal and trusted friend that they both needed and even though he is sometimes sexually provocative toward Sango he cares for her and won't hesitate to bring the beat down if you harm her...what a guy!

Miroku's portrayer to English speaking audiences, actor Kirby Morrow, has such a voice that I can imagine fitting such a noble yet loveable rogue or a level headed leader. Acting since the late 90s, Kirby has had almost 150 roles in television and movies and is one good looking guy even now at the age of 42 (he was in his late 20s-early 30s when InuYasha was at its peak and definitely a honey even then!)

#7. Prince Lir, son of King Haggard, from The Last Unicorn voiced by actor Jeff Bridges

First off I know some people will nitpick and say I should put adopted or foster in front of son but let's not get troll technical okay? Anyway the 1982 animated version of Peter Beagle's 1968 fantasy novel tells of well a unicorn who is said to be the last of her mythical kind going out in search of others, meeting a wizard named Schmendrick and the common law wife of a woodland fugitive named Molly Grue. When they travel to Haggard's kingdom, the unicorn gets turned into a young woman in order to protect her from the creature called The Red Bull that drove all the other unicorns into the sea for Haggard's own enjoyment. In this form of Lady Amalthea, the unicorn is romanced by Lir.

I think Lir is such a great character because he falls in love with "Amalthea" at first sight but since she is actually an immortal creature that knows nothing of love at first she becomes hard to woo even though Lir does what any noble prince would do by slaying beasts and monsters and dragons to win her favor. He tries clumsily at poetry but as she loses her true self and gains more of the human mortality, Amalthea comes to love Lir but when he learns what she truly is even though he still loves her he knows she must go back to being a unicorn. When The Red Bull threatens her again in her true form, Lir sacrifices himself to save her.

So let's see a young man who is having trouble winning the affections of a girl, ends up trying poetry which fails in a cute sort of fashion, ends up humbly winning the girl, loves her no matter what and so much that he knows he has to let her go for her own good but in the end will sacrifice himself for love which changes him for the better...now that is a romance novel that will stand for all time!

So today most people know Jeff Bridges as "The Dude" with his Zen like calm and crazy country old timer vibe but back in the early 1980s he was sexy as hell! He was suave and cocky with chiseled features and a soft-spoken voice and well very endowed in that Tron costume. If you don't believe me try looking up Tron or Faerie Tale Theater Rapunzel in your search engine ;) Besides the obvious hunkiness, Jeff Bridges comes from an acting family (late father Lloyd and big brother Beau), has been acting since he was just a baby and can sing like no one's business. Yes even today there's something about that maturity that makes him one charming man.

#6. Prince Derek from the film The Swan Princess voiced by Broadway actor Howard McGillin.

Now for most women reading this entry I can hear the words "what" and "why" coming from your lips but for those of you not familiar with this film or the ballet it is loosely based on, Swan Lake, let me sum up the plot.

Prince Derek and Princess Odette have been matched up by their parents since Odette was born but they can't stand each other until they get older and become major hotties. Derek only seems to think Odette's beauty is a reason to tie the knot, makes a total ass of himself so she and her father King William leave with Odette heartbroken. An enchanter named Rothbart banished long ago attacks them, William dies from injuries and Odette has been whisked away when Derek arrives too late to help. Now Odette is cursed to be a swan during the day and only on nights when moonlight shines upon the lake of the castle where Rothbart keeps her prisoner. In a nutshell, Derek vows to find Odette while everyone else thinks she is dead and she hopes for Derek to find her and break the spell on her with love and so on...

I have heard most comments directed towards the fact that Derek is actually quite a jerk but well when he's younger little boys think little girls have cooties so there's that. When he gets older let's face it most twelve to thirteen year old boys are jerks (I speak from personal experiences) and don't get over that until at least high school, or college or face it... some never do. Also it's my experience that most guys don't know anything about love and are mostly oblivious to it even if you hit them in the face with a giant ten pound sack labeled "LOVE" that has the impact of a blue whale landing on top of them. Now when Odette is assumed dead that's when Derek realizes that he did love her and he gets better and comes to realize he has to find her and hopefully make up for his actions. On a whole other level, what throws them off for liking Derek is his hair and his um I guess not so subtle reactions to things like he was trying out for an off-Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire (HEY STELLAAAA!!) but in a twist...

Howard McGillin is a Broadway actor with lots of television roles as well but you can't take the theater out of a person bred on the stage. He was the longest performing Phantom Of The Opera in history, earned but did not win Tony nominations, has a strong, beautiful baritone and a career that's been good for him since the early 1980s onward (he was in his early 20s when he started acting and is still doing shows now in his early 60s.) He is also quite a handsome man and always congenial to his Phantom fans (so I've heard) plus...I kind of have an attraction to men named Howard if they are tall and of course a sucker for brown eyes and a nice voice ;) Alas I am off the market and so is he...he and his husband have been married since 2013 so right on but yep the good ones are always married or gay aren't they?

#5. Hans/The Prince of The Dolls aka The Nutcracker Prince from the film of the same name voiced by actor Kiefer Sutherland

First off before we get into this yes I admit I have a thing for Kiefer Sutherland alright! He has a very sexy voice, is quite handsome, can be a real badass guy when the time is right and he was jilted at the altar by Julia Roberts when she ran off with his Lost Boys co-star and friend Jason Patric which warrants him a hug as I can relate to being stood up by many boys at school dances so now that it's finally out in the open let's go to The Nutcracker Prince deal.

So of course every one should know this story: young man turned into a Nutcracker doll by an evil Mouse Queen in retaliation for interfering in one of her spells on a snobby princess that can be broken if he wins the hand of a fair maiden. A young girl named Clara receives him in doll form from her godfather Uncle Drosselmeier and becomes wrapped up in a battle between mice and toys as the Mouse Queen was killed and now her son the Mouse King wants to rule over well everything.

This is one of my favorite versions of the story and although I am unaware as to the exact age of Hans and don't want to seem like a pedophile I can't help but be a little sweet on him when he's The Nutcracker. As a whole the guy is a kicked puppy if you think about it first he took pity on the spoiled Princess Pirlipat who got turned into an ugly troll and tried to help break her curse. Second of all when he did succeed he got turned into one of those creepy looking nutcracker dolls so she refused to marry him and he got stuck being in some form of suspended animation for over 700 years (look it up on Wikipedia.. I'm just condensing the info to support my choices). So anyway he then has to wake up and fight a mice army with like no training in military strategy? The guy has it rough but does make up for it in charm, good manners, an awkward kind of shyness, respect for his elders and some nice dancing skills in that pas de deux.

#4. Sam Winchester from the Supernatural animated series voiced by Jared Padalecki

Before I hear some booing out there I am not cheating! This anime was made in 2010 and released on DVD to the States in 2011 through Warner Home Video. It combined episodes from both the 1st and 2nd seasons as well as original episodes revolving around the Winchester Brothers, Sam and Dean, as they hunt the paranormal and seek out their father. Now the reason I picked Anime Sam is well Anime Dean doesn't look or sound like the one people are familiar with on the show thanks to being done by an artistic adaptation of the Japanese animators and the fact that Jensen Ackles had scheduling conflicts to provide the English dubbing except for the last two episodes.

Now Anime Sam is pretty much like live-action Sam with the murdered girlfriend guilt, the awesome powers brought on by demon blood, the bad-ass fighting skills and the big old knowledge that comes from his bookworm tendencies. Sam is of course portrayed as far more sensitive than Dean with a more soft approach but still gets to be a babe magnet and man when he gets hostile he is down right scary but he can still be playful and sarcastic. When it comes to the live action show I can't ever really choose between Dean or Sam to fan girl over but the anime is a no contest when it comes the cool, true blue Sam over the red-hot, hot blooded Dean.

When it comes to the real life actors, I still can't choose between being a Jared Padalecki fan or a Jensen Ackles fan because both guys are smoking hot! Jared is tall, has great hair, a wounded puppy kind of gaze and does the facial hair very nicely. I could go into what I find sexy about Dean and his portrayer Jensen Ackles but that is another time, another day and another list away ;)

Okay I may just have to do a full blog on this movie to get every detail in about the full plot because the films of Hayao Miyazaki are so grand, beautiful and complex not to be talked about so blurb condensing the main points: a young woman named Sophie is cursed by a wicked witch into being an old woman so she journeys to find the powerful wizard named Howl in his mechanical, steam-punk moving castle of magic and junk to help remove it and many magical and wonderful things (and some kind of creepy and violent things) start to happen as it goes in the Studio Ghibli universe of things.

Howl is known to be a womanizing, self-centered young man who is said to eat the hearts of beautiful girls. In reality I would have to say that Howl is a conflicted, sometimes serious, quietly angry, over dramatic and very vain young man and can not go any further than that without revealing major spoilers. If I had to say anything else about the Howl character, it's got to be those blue eyes that won me over and as a woman who usually prefers the tall, dark and handsome ones I like when he gets the dark hair to make those eyes just pop!

When it comes to Christian Bale, I've had a crush on him ever since I saw him in the 1994 version of Little Women as Laurie and of course with that English accent, dark eyes and even a little bit of a temper makes him just so damn sexy! Besides that, Christian is a talented and committed actor to every role he takes and he has been doing this since he was only ten years old so that makes an almost thirty year career!

#2. Dimitri from the film Anastasia voiced by actor John Cusack

Now I know for a fact a lot of young women think Dimitri from Anastasia is cute and I am no exception. The first time I ever saw this Don Bluth animated masterpiece (that in no way left me emotionally scarred like his past works when I was younger) when I was 14 I thought Dimitri was a babe! This film was very loosely based off the real daughter of Tsar Nicholas II who for the longest time was thought to actually have survived the execution that killed her parents, sisters and baby brother by the Bolsheviks and began the leadership of Communist Russia. A play of the same name was also the inspiration as well as the 1958 film starring Ingrid Bergman based on said play where a young woman is believed to be the real Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna. In this 1997 animated film, a girl named Anya is found by con men Dimitri and Vlad to try and pass of as Anastasia to receive a reward commissioned by the girl's grandmother for her return. In the meantime there are some songs, Anya and Dimitri have some unresolved sexual tension and the reanimated, soulless corpse of Rasputin is after Anya knowing that she is the real Anastasia and only killing the last of the Romanov line will make him human again to rule Russia...I am not making that up.

So besides his warm, brown eyes and his crooked nose that brings out his handsome face what are other reasons to like Dimitri? I mean he's trying to con money out of an old woman still grieving the loss of her family and her last string of hope being that her only living grandchild is well still alive? It's also clear in the beginning that Dimitri doesn't care that Anya is only interested in finding her family and kind of placates her pretending to take interest. It's kind of only after he sees Anya out of her frumpy orphan look in a real dress with her hair all nice that the snarkiness starts to subsided and the good points of Dimitri's character come out.

When he realizes that Anya really is Anastasia by her revealing that a young kitchen boy helped to save her and her Grandmother (the boy being a young Dimitri) he becomes a lot more humble, a little more morose thinking he isn't good enough for her, actually turns down the money, decides she is better off without him finally being reunited with her family that he leaves but then he comes back when he gets his love epiphany and tries to help save her. I think Dimitri is a very good example on how love can change a person for the better and even though Anya/Anastasia is a very strong kind of woman that doesn't need saving it's nice to know that a guy will be willing to put his life on the line if you are in danger.

Dimitri's voice actor, John Cusack, has to be one of my favorite actors. Of course almost every girl knows him as Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything... with his boom box declarations of love and out of place chivalrous nature in the modern late 1980s world. I mean John has been acting for a very long time, his whole family immersed in the industry, and he has done comedy, drama, thrillers, action and horror...almost every kind of genre you can think of! I have always admired his talent and I love the honest, open appearance of his face as a person but when the role calls for it he can be very intense and have you maybe backing off just a little bit...did I mention he has a black belt in kickboxing like a 6th degree one? John Cusack could kick your ass if he wanted too...what's more attractive than a man who is not only a lover but a fighter?

So by now you are probably wondering who my number one pick is right? Well if you think you know me then maybe it's not a big surprise or possibly it is and though to many you may cringe but I'm sorry I just can't help it...

#1. Tuxedo Mask from the anime series Sailor Moon voiced respectively by Rino Romano, Toby Proctor and Vincent Corazza for the North American, English dub.

Sailor Moon is the first anime I ever saw and possibly the best one even though my horizons have expanded in that genre. Since it came out as a manga in 1991, Sailor Moon has become such a world-wide phenomenon being dubbed in other languages, merchandising thousands of products, having a live-action series, musicals, theatrical films and complete reboots in DVD and Blu-Ray. I was eleven or twelve when I first saw this show and every afternoon or early morning time-slot that hosted it I was watching Sailor Moon and recording it on VHS tapes. I have dolls and tons of pictures to decorate my desktop and of course this brought about my first hard-core crush on an animated character. Unlike some of the choices on this list from the 80s where I was probably too young to understand why I liked boys or that you could even like boys, Tuxedo Mask was an exception.

As I have stated before, I like older men so when I reached the point where I could actually have feelings that were kind of like love, I guess Usagi (or Serena as I came to know her) crushing on the much older Tuxedo Kamen/Tuxedo Mask made me realize that it was okay to have fantasies like that and even let me know that sometimes there could be heartbreak in liking somebody. Now because of the English dub, there has always been a lot of hate for the American version of Mamoru (known to most as Darien) saying that he is too much of a jerk, more of a damsel in distress than Sailor Moon, just a satellite love interest that loses much of any awesomeness he had once they actually hook up and of course being completely lame because he has no powers. Now I can't say where I blame people for having those opinions but in the manga, he had actual powers, was more studious and stoic than comical and annoying and was a much more romantic boyfriend to Usagi.

Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi has stated that Tuxedo Mask is her ideal man and she created him to be handsome, suave, and the mysterious protector type almost on par with American superheroes such as Batman and his true identity Bruce Wayne and even Superman and his alter-ego of mild mannered Clark Kent. No matter how lame or awful you may think of the character and any of his incarnations. with his tall stature, beautiful baby blues, handsome face, midnight hair and an affinity for roses...that's quite a scrumptious package!

Rino Romano

When it comes to the North American dub, Darien/Tuxedo Mask had three voice actors during the original run (the series is being redubbed with a new voice actor) and since it is the one I grew up on these are the actors I will focus on the most. Rino Romano did the first eleven episodes and probably looked the most like the character with his dark hair and a suave voice to make the girls melt. When Romano left the role, Toby Proctor had the privilege of voicing the rest of the first season and a majority of the second season. Toby provided more of the comical edge to Darien's voice and to me more of a emotional tone when it came to serious scenes and even some of the cheesy dub dialogue to fit to the early 90s audience of young girls watching. Toby did most of the voice work in some of my favorite episodes of the series so even though I am quite partial to his voice as Darien there were times when I thought his voice made Darien seem a little less mature than when he did Tuxedo Mask's voice and seem a little more of a jerk than intended during that whole break-up arc in the latter half of the second season before he left and Vincent Corazza came in.

Toby Proctor

Before I get into Corazza's portrayal of Tuxedo Mask/Darien, on a more personal note can I actually talk about him because I just so happen to be friends with him on Facebook. You see a long time ago I got on his website telling him what a good actor I thought he was and he wrote me back to say thank you! I was just geeked that an actual celebrity would right back to me that when I liked his fan page on Facebook and then saw he had an actual person page, I sent him a friend request with a little reminder and he accepted it! I've wished him happy birthday, commented on some of his posts and of course gushed on how talented and gorgeous he is but I've also gotten to see how nice a guy he is and how much his wife and family mean to him as well as his career no matter how small a part in a TV show or film is. So when I say that he is talented, nice, attractive, funny and smart unlike other actors I mentioned in this post having actually conversed with him I can speak the truth about what makes the actor behind an animated man a real one.

Just one good look at those abs because why not? Oh yeah and there's another picture below that's less distracting...

So the last half of the second season, the three dubs of the movies and onto the end of the series in North America , Vincent Corazza took over the voice of Tuxedo Mask/Darien. After hearing Toby for so long as Darien's voice it was kind of jarring to hear a much deeper voice but only out of Darien...Vincent's voice for Tuxedo Mask fit the character quite nicely like a well tailored...you get my point. There seemed to be more of the maturity of the manga version that came along with Vincent Corazza's voice so when it came to serious scenes he nailed it and sometimes even with all the hokey lines and comical what the heck moments, Darien was a little more charming. No doubt there were a lot of cringe-worthy moments in the fourth season where the show kind of got goofier IMHO that would make an actor question just why they were doing something so silly but I'd have to say that Vincent made it a pleasure to the ears in that respect.

Vincent Corazza

So there you have it my top ten favorite animated men NOT from the House of Mouse. You can feel free to leave comments on my choices but please be kind. I don't say it a lot because I want my blog to be a fun place but if your bashing gets to insane troll levels comments will be deleted and people blocked. I would never do the same on someone else's blog no matter what I thought so I would appreciate the same kind of respect. Your comments won't hurt my feelings but I just don't tolerate hate and ugliness.

It seems only appropriate to actually discuss the men of Disney after this so stay tuned...